Setting Up Shop In E. Europe

Small U.S. companies interested in testing the Eastern European market face a quandary, businesspeople meeting in Orlando on Friday learned: Money is available to help businesses enter that market, but new products don't always get a warm welcome there.

Billions of dollars in loans and other financing are on the table for successful businesses that take the time to look for it, offi-

cials from the World Bank and other major financing organizations said.

The officials spoke to more than 60 businesspeople from across the country attending a daylong seminar sponsored by the World Trade Center Orlando.

Many of the financial assistance organizations are so new that most businesspeople may not know about them, said William G. Curran Jr., U.S. director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

''There's a wonderful kaleidoscope out there . . . of financial support,'' and other assistance, said Curran, who works out of the international agency's London headquarters.

The bank, open for 10 months, has raised $12 billion from international bond markets to invest in Eastern Europe with the goal of fostering democracy, human rights, environmental improvements and ''coaxing these nations into the West,'' Curran said.

The bank typically considers loans of at least $6 million and processes the paperwork in 90 days. But lending requirements can be tough, and track records must be solid, Curran said.

Even more specific is an organization like the Polish-American Enterprise Fund, based in New York and Warsaw. The non-profit lending agency invested more than $80 million in Poland in its first year, which ended in September. Loans typically are for less than $500,000.

Older, more established sources for financial assistance in developing private businesses in Eastern Europe include the World Bank's International Finance Corp., the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corp.

But getting access to capital is only part of the struggle of doing business overseas, said David Burton, vice president of New England Machinery Inc.

Burton's company, based in Bradenton, has a plant in Szeged, Hungary, that turns out packaging equipment machinery. The machinery is vital to churning out consumer goods like containers for soft drinks or shampoo. But Burton has been unable to sell Hungarians on using such packaging for milk.

''Milk in Hungary is packed in something that looks like an IV (intravenous) bag,'' Burton said. ''They take it home, cut it open and pour it into a pitcher.''

Though the bags are inconvenient, break a lot and reduce shelf life of milk, Burton said, he has spent several years unsuccessfully trying to persuade Hungarians to use milk cartons and jugs and other containers familiar to U.S. consumers.

The moral of the story, Burton said, is that resistance to change can be a formidable hurdle in stodgy Eastern Europe.